Soup Expert Simmers With Imagination

Ellie Wikholm makes sure the “soup’s up” for friends and beachcombers in the Northern California coastal town of Stinson Beach.

A luncheon cook at the Sand Dollar Restaurant, Wikholm says that “soup and surf go great together. Homemade soups are hearty and healthy. People love them.”

Wikholm said she wasn’t originally hired to make soups at the restaurant, but her expertise with a big pot and a pile of leftovers made her a natural for the job. She makes such seaside soups as clam chowder, fish chowders, sizzling shrimp and a “beach barley” soup sprinkled with sea salt.

200 Varieties

“I’ve been making soups for a long time,” said Wikholm, mother of three grown children who figures she has created 200 varieties of soups. “My kids were eating my split pea soup when they were 6 months old. Surprisingly, they still like it.”

Although she sometimes cooks for up to 200 people at the restaurant, Wikholm also makes smaller portions of soups at home and usually has leftovers to share with the neighbors. In fact, she said one of the best things about soup is the ability to store it and add new ingredients for the next meal.

“Soup is a good, inexpensive form of nourishment,” said Wikholm. “It’s also a no-waste dish which can be made with leftovers and almost anything you can cut up.”

Wikholm, who has been invited to speak on soups at food seminars and who is working on coastal soups cookbook, says that almost anyone can learn to cook a good soup in the kitchen, adding ingredients to basic recipes for an original touch.

Spices Are Key

“You can give an Oriental touch to a soup by adding green onions, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts,” Wikholm said. “You can make complicated soups or simple soups. Broth is often very good.”

The secret of most soups, Wikholm said, is the proper blending of spices.